


Out on a Limb in the Carnival of Me

by indevan



Series: Rock Band AU [7]
Category: Dragon Ball
Genre: Alternate Universe - Rock Band, Engagement, F/M, M/M, Past Abuse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-03
Updated: 2017-09-03
Packaged: 2018-12-23 04:54:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,174
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11982585
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/indevan/pseuds/indevan
Summary: Relationships change, the band gets more famous, and someone buys infant-sized designer sunglasses





	Out on a Limb in the Carnival of Me

Chi-Chi lifts up the cushion and frowns.  She feels like she’s turned the entire apartment upside down but she can’t find the ring she always wears.  It fits the third finger on each hand perfectly, although she only wears it on her right.

“Have you seen it?” she asks as she pokes her head up. “I honestly just worry about Goten finding it and sticking it in his mouth.”

Gine shakes her head.  Goten seems to realize he’s being talked about and wriggles in his grandmother’s arms.  He and Gohan are both spending the night with Gine and Bardock.  She isn’t sure why Kakarrot is taking them out but he’s missing a big meeting with King Kai in order to do so.

“I can help!” Gohan says excitedly.

She smiles and reaches out to ruffle his hair. “It’s fine.  Mommy doesn’t need it.  You just go with grandma, okay?”

He nods and grins broadly. “Okay.  I’ll see you tomorrow, mommy.”

She kisses him and Gohan hugs her back before going to the door to fetch his bag.  Chi-Chi rises and goes to kiss Goten on the cheek.  He gives a grin and giggles.  If Gohan looks more like her, Goten is the spitting image of Kakarrot.  He even already has the messy head of hair (cowlicks, Gine says, which Goten got from Kakarrot who got them from Bardock) and sunny smile--even if he doesn’t have teeth yet.

“How come Bardock didn’t come up?” she asks.

Gine rolls her eyes. “He’s showing off the car to everyone who wants to see it.”

The car in question is the one that Raditz and Kakarrot got their parents a month or so ago.  Chi-Chi remembers her boyfriend excitedly telling her how they got them a pink Cadillac after how much their father loves Bruce Springsteen.

“Everyone?”

“People on the street mostly.” Gine smiles fondly even as she says it.

Chi-Chi feels herself smiling as well.

“Alright, let’s go.” Gine glances towards the window and looks down on the street. “Before someone thinks Bardock’s trying to proposition someone for sex.”

“For what, grandma?” Gohan, who never misses anything, asks.

Chi-Chi sighs while Gine widens her eyes.

“Oh, uh, nothing, dumpling.  You have your bag?”

Gohan nods and they depart after another round of kisses and hugs.  Chi-Chi bites her lip at the closed door.  It’s easier with the second kid, but she’s still worried about Goten spending the night away from her, even if it’s just at his grandparent’s.

She draws in a deep breath and shakes her head.  She still has to get ready before Kakarrot gets here.

\--

“You boys are going to be the death of me.”

Raditz has gotten used to King Kai starting most meetings like this.

“Yeah, but we’re also why you’re gonna make the big bucks, remember that.” Turles flashes a grin.

He ignores them and gestures to the empty chair.

“I know you said why Kakarrot isn’t here but where’s Vegeta?”

Broly shrugs. “He doesn’t live with us anymore.”

“You still have phones!”

King Kai has already taken off his glasses and is tiredly rubbing the bridge of his nose.  Raditz glances at his phone.  They’re only two minutes into the meeting, which is a new record.  Luckily, the door opens and Vegeta comes in carrying Trunks.  They’re wearing matching sunglasses and Raditz notices the little gorgon on the corners.

“Dude,” Turles says, “did you get a pair of custom Versace sunglasses for you and your kid?”

Vegeta pushes his own up onto his forehead. “Yeah.  Well, Bulma did.”

He sits at the table with Trunks on his lap.  King Kai sighs in exasperation.

“Why is your son here?”

“Bulma has to work and her parents live out of town and fuck if I’m taking him to my dad’s, so…”

“I thought you made Caulifla watch him,” Raditz says.

“U6 has a show tonight.”

They’re getting off-task and Raditz can see King Kai’s face turning red.

“So what’s this about?” he says to try and get them back to talking about their supposedly skyrocketing careers.

“Your upcoming tour.”

“Our what?”

King Kai spreads his hands on the table of the meeting room (much nicer, Raditz thinks, than the coffee shops they used to meet in) and sighs again.

“Your album is doing well but there needs to be a tour to support it.  Shorter this time: only three months.  U6 will be opening for you.”

“Kale hasn’t mentioned anything about it,” Broly says, fiddling with one of his earrings.

“That’s because I haven’t told them yet.”

Vegeta shifts Trunks in his lap and frowns. “When are we leaving?”

“Two weeks.  Get your shit in order here--got it?”

_ Do we have a choice? _

“I’ll let Kakarrot know,” he says instead and then winces, remembering his brother’s plans for the night. “Tonight.  Later.”

King Kai adjourns the meeting and they’re left in the room and--Raditz feels out of place.  The entire situation is still entirely too surreal how they went from crowding around at table at Starbucks to sitting in meeting rooms.  They helped pay for this meeting room and the new studio that it was in.  It makes his head spin.

“Are you seeing U6 tonight?” Broly asks. “Kale invited me.”

Vegeta lifts Trunks up. “No.  I’ve got this one.”

Trunks throws his chubby arms out and speaks a string of nonsense gibberish.

“I’m gonna pass, too,” Raditz says. “Lapis is coming over.”

Turles makes a kissy face at him and he considers chucking a chair at him but he manages to refrain.  He’s glad they’re back on this level, though.  He’s glad they’re friends again.

“It’s just you and me, Broles.” Turles punches his shoulder lightly.

Broly ducks his head and gives a shy smile.

“C’mon, then.”

They leave and Raditz bites his lip before tugging on the sleeve of Vegeta’s jacket.

“D’you think they’re gonna get together?”

He curls his lip in scorn.  Without thinking about it, they begin walking together out of the building.

“Who?  Turles and Broly?” He snorts. “Doubt it.  Besides, you’re just hoping they do to  _ assuage  _ any guilt you have.”

“Guilt?”

Vegeta uses his free arm to push open the door.  Immediately, he pulls his sunglasses down over his eyes.

“Yeah.  You and Turles are okay now but you still feel like a dick for what happened with Broly.”

He moves his hand away from his chest as if to physically push that notion away.

“That’s totally not the case.  I think they really do have feelings for each other.”

Quickly, he whips his head around to make sure that neither of them are still in earshot.

“Trunks, what do you think?”

The baby looks very serious for a moment before he says, “No.”

Vegeta shrugs.

“He’s spoken.”

Now it’s Raditz’s turn to curl his lip.

“Okay--Trunks knows, like, three words.  That does  _ not _ count.”

Even though he’s still wearing his tiny pair of sunglasses, Trunks manages to glare at him with an intensity that matches his father’s.  Raditz shudders despite himself.

“He knows more than three words.”

“He does not!  He knows ‘no,’ ‘dah’--which either is referring to you or means ‘yes’ and ‘fuck.’”

They continue walking in the vague direction of the apartment.  It’s not like either of them use cars when walking or public transit is more convenient.  Raditz doesn’t even bring up that Vegeta doesn’t even live at the apartment anymore.  He knows he’d be called on for changing the subject.

“Okay.  Let’s try it.  Trunks.  Do you love mommy?”

Hearing him speak in a semblance of a “baby voice” is unnerving.  Again, he says nothing.

“Dah!”

“Do you love daddy?”

“Dah!”

“Do you think Turles and Broly are going to admit they like each other?”

“No.”

He shrugs and it takes all of Raditz’s will not to shove him.

\--

Chi-Chi and Kakarrot rarely do anything for their anniversary.  For one, it’s hard to pick one.  When a couple has broken up and gotten back together as many times as they have, it’s hard to say when an “anniversary” is.  Usually they go with the day they first got together back in high school and, at most, they’ll exchange presents.  Or they pick random dates and Chi-Chi will say it’s an anniversary and she’ll give him a king-sized candy bar and he’ll give her a card.  They normally can’t afford to go out to dinner.

Because of all that, tonight feels weird.  She’s in a nice dress in a nice restaurant and even Kakarrot looks nice.  He can’t do a thing about his hair but he’s wearing a suit.  He even eats a reasonable amount and they aren’t asked to leave.  It’s like she’s in a movie.  Afterwards, he asks her if she wants to go for a walk.

“You’re being sweet,” she says. “What did you do?”

“Nothing,” he says.  At her look he adds, “Honest!  I just.  Wanted you to have a nice night.”

They’re holding hands loosely and walking through the park.  Chi-Chi can’t remember the last time she came through here.  Gohan was still a baby, that was for sure.  It’s quiet tonight.  It’s not too late to be in the park but late enough that it’s empty.  If they stay too long, odds are good that they’ll get stabbed.

“Oh, it’s that water thing.”

Kakarrot points to a dark, flat platform in a paved clearing.  Normally, it shoots arcs of recycled water at timed intervals and children run through it screaming.

“You took me here when you were tutoring me,” he says, perking up at the memory.

“And you kept getting distracted,” she adds with a smile.

He squeezes her hand and guides her towards the water feature.

“Do they turn it off at night or is it still on a timer do you think?”

He’s pulled her to the center for it and Chi-Chi desperately hopes that it’s off for the night.

“I’m not sure.”

As if in response, the water feature suddenly comes to life, shooting water every which way.  Chi-Chi lets out a yelp and Kakarrot jumps back, surprised.  He takes her hand and together they run to relative dryness.

“Good going,” she says, patting at her soaked hair and then at her ruined dress.

“Aw, I’m sorry, Chi-Chi.”

He’s pouting and she can never stay mad at him when he makes that face.  He crouches down and wrinkles his nose.

“Ugh, my socks are all wet.”

She sighs and pushes some wet hair from her eyes.  The night  _ had _ been going too well.

“Hey, Chi-Chi?”

She turns and sees that Kakarrot is still crouched on one knee but he isn’t examining his soaked socks anymore.  He’s holding a small velvet box in both hands.

“What is that?” she demands.

He gives her a lopsided, hopeful smile and opens the box.  Inside is a diamond ring with a silver band.  On one side of the diamond is a small opal and on the other is a sapphire.

“Look, this probably is moot at this point but I’ve been thinkin’ about this for awhile and--you and the boys are everything to me and I...I just wanna let you know and I’ve finally got my shit together.  You, you  _ make _ me want to keep it together and just, so...um...will you marry me?”

It’s a garbage speech and it makes little to no sense but Chi-Chi feels herself tearing up.  Not trusting her voice, she nods and holds her hand out.  Both of their hands are still wet but he manages to get the ring on.  It meets slight resistance on her knuckle but it fits perfectly.

“How did you…”

“That ring you always wear.  I, uh, ‘borrowed’ it and had the guy at the jewelry store match it.”

He gets to his feet and she throws herself into his arms.

“And the other stones?”

“Goten and Gohan’s birthstones.”

Sometimes he can strike her as being the most thoughtful guy on the planet and every time it leaves her gobsmacked.  She stands on her tiptoes to kiss him and he holds her more tightly.

“Let’s go home,” she says against his lips.

He grins, sweeps an arm around her, and directs her back towards where they parked the car.

\--

Bulma lets herself into the apartment and immediately pauses.  The scene before her is bizarre.  Trunks is walking forward on chubby, bowed legs and Vegeta is on his hands and knees, his torso pressed to the ground as their son walks towards him.  It so domestic and out of character that she has to laugh.

She approaches them both and leans against the couch.

“What’s the verdict?” she asks.

“Time for him to get a job,” he reports back.

It’s a familiar joke and one makes a smile tug on her lips.

“He’ll have to get his papers together.  CV, cover page, the works.”

“He needs at least three years experience for an entry-level job,” he says. “Right, Trunks?”

He giggles and claps his hands in response.  Vegeta rises and sits back on his legs.  He has an unlit cigarette tucked behind his ear and he’s wearing that grungy denim jacket he always has on but the entire tableaux still strikes her as wholesome and domestic.  Bulma sinks to the carpet and drapes her arms around his shoulders.

“It’s weird,” he says. “Trunks will be all innocent and then he’ll look and something will change and his eyes will be like adult eyes.”

_ They’re your eyes, _ she doesn’t say.  Instead, she rests her head against his and, with one hand, teases the soft hairs at the base of his head.

“So what was the meeting about?”

He shifts in her arms and gives a one-shouldered shrug.  Trunks takes this moment to toddle over them.  He lets out a stream of gibberish and tugs on Bulma’s arm.  She moves it and he wriggles between them.

“King Kai wants us to do another tour,” he says, “for the new album.  We leave in two weeks.”

Bulma frowns.  She supposes that this is the price of dating a rock star (though she’s loathe to word it as such).

“For how long?”

“About three months.”

That isn’t too bad.  Trunks is still trying to climb up both of their bodies and she isn’t sure what his end goal is but he seems determined to reach it.

“Here, baby.”

She puts an arm around him and he lets out a wild screech.

“Okay, that isn’t what you wanted.”

“Dah.”

Trunks latches onto Vegeta’s shoulder and holds on.  Bulma swoons dramatically, drawing the back of her hand over her face.

“Trunks, my only son!  I raised you  _ by myself _ for five months and this is how you repay me?!”

“Dah.”

She cracks up and sits back up.

“I think it’s time for his bottle and then bed, hmm?”

Vegeta nods. “Yeah.  We were just waiting for you.”

As if understanding him, Trunks nods seriously.

“You’re weirdly suited to this,” she says.

Bulma rises to her feet and heads towards the kitchen to grab a bottle from the fridge.

“I’m trying very hard not to fuck up.”

He rises along with her, picking up Trunks as he does.

“It shows.” She smiles and, when he enters the kitchen behind her, she leans in to kiss him. “I like our little family.”

Vegeta seems to have hit his capacity for showing emotion because he only grunts in response.

“So, three months and you’re leaving in two weeks?”

He nods.

“Then I have fourteen days to do so many things to you to make you miss me.”

He smirks but then says, “Careful.  Little ears are present.”

Bulma knocks him gently with the end of the bottle.

\--

When Raditz arrives at the apartment, Lapis is sitting cross-legged outside of the door.  Their complex is outdoors so there’s no need to be buzzed in so that isn’t what’s odd.  What  _ is _ odd is the sense of deja vu.  It reminds him precisely of the first time he bumped into Lapis, sitting outside his hotel room.  When he asked him to go get burritos with him.

“I got here early.”

He thinks that that’s as much of a greeting as he’s going to get but then Lapis surprises him by shooting up to his feet and kissing him square on the mouth.

“We have the place to ourselves,” he tells him.

Lapis tips his head to the side and toys with some of his hair.

“I know.  I knocked and no one answered.”

“Right.”

He slips his key into the lock and pushes the door open.

“You hungry?” he asks.

That sardonic smile he loves curves onto his features.

“No.  But I know you are.”

“Haha.  I’m actually fine.”

He shuts the door and Lapis moves to sit on the couch.  It’s always cramped in their main room with two futon beds and a couch but it’s been better since Vegeta moved out and Raditz could sell his futon and move into the bedroom.

“I’ll get us some beer,” he says. “I got that weird lime ale shit you like.”

Lapis smiles again, this time one that’s sweet and genuine.  That’s the smile that always catches him off-guard.  He’s all Daria-esque and snarky, giving little smirks and 90s ironic post-adolescent  _ Reality Bites _ smiles but then he’ll give a real, full-up smile and it makes Raditz actually stop for a second.  He fetches two bottles from the fridge and comes back into the living room to find Lapis squatting near the TV.  He’s sifting through the stacks of DVDs, raising his eyebrows every now and then.

“Those are Broly’s,” he says.

“Broly has good taste.” Lapis nods his head a little. “A lot of early Van Sant.  Have you seen any of these?”

“Uh-uh.  Wait...no.  We watched  _ Drugstore Cowboy _ once.  Matt Dillon was hot in it.”

Lapis chuckles and goes back to looking.

“Wow, Kenneth Anger, too?  Have you seen these?”

Raditz shakes his head again.  As much as he enjoys seeing his boyfriend get excited about, well, anything, he had hoped that hey could sip their beer and then leave them to get warm and drip condensation on the table, forgotten, as they make out.

“I’d like to talk about film with him.” Lapis gives a sigh. “Too bad he hates me.”

“What?  Broly doesn’t hate you.”

He sits back on his hands and gives Raditz a knowing look.

“I’m dating the guy he likes.”

“He was pissed at me for turning him down before I even met you.  It’s not like that.  And ‘sides, we’re cool now.”

He thinks so, at least.  Broly isn’t glaring at him or ignoring him anymore but it’s not like it was before.  Truthfully, Raditz doesn’t know how long he liked him so he isn’t sure when to note a change in how Broly treated him.

“It doesn’t matter.  He’s probably still hurt.”

Lapis shrugs and says no more.  Slowly, he’s been opening up to Raditz more with conversations and little bits of his past.  He doesn’t push for it, though.  He knows he’ll do it on his own time.

“Hey...c’mere.”

He rises to his feet and sits next to Raditz on the couch.  He takes the bottle handed to him but only takes a couple of sips before he decides that he’d rather straddle his lap and kiss his neck.  Raditz grins, glad he can’t see him.  It’s been two weeks since he got to see him last and he wants to make up for lost time.  They can talk and discuss his bandmates later.

“Do you think Broly will mind if we watch his copy of  _ Mala Noche _ ?”

“Yes,” he says even if he doesn’t think it’s true.  He doesn’t want to watch another weird, artsy film that makes no sense.  He wants his devastatingly hot boyfriend in his bed.

“You’re lying,” Lapis says, “but I get it.  I’ll stop talking about it.  I can talk about the indigenous species of birds to this region instead if you’d like.”

Raditz groans. “Are you trying to kill me?”

His mouth has that acerbic tilt again. “Not sure.”

He’s a demon, Raditz thinks, but a kind one because after that, he wraps his arms around his neck and resumes kissing him.

\--

He and Turles meet U6 after their show.  Kale hugs him and even though she’s hot and sweaty from playing for almost two hours, Broly hugs her back.

“Heard you’re opening for us on our new tour,” Turles says, flicking his tongue ring against the back of his teeth.

“We are?”

“Oh, oops.  Yeah.  King Kai told us today.”

Cabba looks like he’s going to levitate out of his skin.  A huge grin is on his face and it looks like it’s taking all he has not to bounce up and down and clap his hands.

“He’ll tell you all later,” Broly says.

Caulifla tugs Kale from his embrace and leans in to kiss her.

“You staying to party?” she asks, draping an arm over Kale’s shoulders.

Turles makes a sweeping gesture away from himself.

“No, thanks.  I’m not in the mood to be busted with a bunch of nineteen-year-olds.”

Broly nods because, really, he doesn’t want to party.  Caulifla makes a face.

“Didn’t stop you from showing me whippets.”

“That’s different.  That’s not technically illegal.”

They both laugh and Broly is struck with how similar the two of them are.

“Broles, you ready?”

He blinks out of his reverie and then nods.  He gives Kale one last hug and then he and Turles are back outside.

“Your birthday’s soon,” he says as he lights a cigarette. “What do you wanna do?”

It’s a clove cigarette and Broly breathes in the sweet-smelling smoke before he answers.

“So’s Kakarrot’s.”

Turles shrugs. “Yeah, but he’s got a ton of people to celebrate his birthday.  His parents, Raditz, Chi-Chi, his kids...so I’m here to celebrate you.”

He isn’t sure why Turles is being so nice to him lately.  Maybe it’s because they’re the only single members left in the band.  Not that Turles hasn’t always been his friend.  He’s the first one he met, after all, in detention when Broly was in tenth grade and Turles was a senior.

“Why?”

“Uh, because it’s your birthday.”

Broly shakes his head.  One hand goes to his chest to fiddle with his figaro chain and he bites his lip.

“No, I mean...why...do you want to?”

“Well, I mean, I’m your friend for one.  Plus, I’m the mood-maker of the band.  I gotta make everyone feel something, good or bad.”

Broly stops and watches him ash on the sidewalk.

“You think that?”

“Oh, totally.  I’m gonna start each show with a motivational speech now,” he says, grinning. “Some  _ Friday Night Lights _ speech with eyes and hearts and shit.”

Broly feels a slight smile tug on the corners of his lips.

“And, besides, us survivors of abusive home lives have to stick together.”

That statement surprises him.  Turles has never called how his mother treats him abuse.  He’ll say that they have “issues” and he and his mom “don’t get along.”  Broly gets it.  It took him moving out to realize that his father would gaslight him and emotionally abuse and manipulate him.  While living there, he had an idea of it but it wasn’t until after he left did he realize the full depth of it.

“Turles…”

“Hey, I’m great.  Five by five, right?” He grins before taking a drag on his cigarette. “But it’s okay, y’know.  Talking to you.  ‘Cause you get it.  Like I’ll always love Radi even if we’re never gonna be together again but he never could understand.  God, I was so jealous of his family when we were kids.”

He’s rambling and Broly can barely follow it but he bobs his head.  They’ve stopped walking and his ears ring dully from the show and his jaw hurts from the gum he was chewing earlier and everything suddenly feels like too much.

“But whatever!” he says and tosses his cigarette on the sidewalk.  He stamps it maybe a bit too hard. “Let’s talk about your birthday, Broles, okay?  I wanna make it special for you.”

He grins and Broly finds himself smiling back.  He knows that they aren’t going to have an in depth discussion on this tonight or maybe ever.  Trauma’s trauma and Turles isn’t someone who talks about it.  Or, he’ll blithely bring something up and then cheerfully undercut it with a joke.  He looks down at his engineer boot stomping on the cigarette to his torn jeans, the plaid flannel tied around his waist.  His leather jacket and the worn thin Misfits shirt he’s wearing.  His grinning face with his riot of wild hair.  The streetlights are winking on his various piercings and the shadows carve out his cheekbones and the combination of it and his words makes Broly’s stomach dip.  Realization dawns on him and the dip becomes a vice, clamping on his insides.

_ Oh, no… _

**Author's Note:**

> http://vertigoats.tumblr.com


End file.
